TOUR: Roche Bros. - Acton, MA

Roche Bros.
Opened: 1995

Owner: Michael Bozzuto

Previous Tenants: unknown

Cooperative: none

Location: 387 Massachusetts Ave, Acton, MA

Photographed: May 11, 2023

Time for another Roche Brothers! We saw the Westborough location a couple months ago, and this one is very similar. But it's older, dating back to 1995. The 30,000 square foot store was renovated in 2004, then again around 10 years later. And I don't know what occupied the space before Roche Bros, although there's also a space around the corner that looks a lot like a former supermarket -- so perhaps something was originally there and then moved to this property when it was built in the 1970s. The building around the corner was built around 1960. Speaking of around the corner: a Stop & Shop recently moved into a former Kmart nearby.

We enter to the produce department in the front corner of the robust grand aisle on the left side of the store. Service seafood and deli are in an island facing, with bakery and prepared foods in the back-left corner. Meats line the rest of the back wall. There's a wine and beer department in the first aisle, and dairy and frozen are on the far right side of the store.

The service departments are very substantial here, and Roche Brothers has always run a great perimeter. The prices, of course, are higher than the average on basic groceries, but the specialty items make up for it.

Seafood is at the front of the island, facing the entrance and produce department, then deli is behind that.

In November of last year, majority ownership of Roche Brothers was transferred out of the Roche family for the first time. Michael Bozzuto, of Bozzuto's, the grocery wholesaler, acquired the controlling interest in the company. Bozzuto's has long been Roche Brothers' supplier, so the change isn't that big. I haven't heard anything about any changes to the stores, and the website and circulars still look the same. (I haven't been to a Roche Brothers since the sale.)

Prepared foods and bakery are in the back-left corner of the store at the back of the grand aisle.

A cheese island and service butcher are up next, with packaged meats lining the back wall. The layout is very pleasant: it's not a maze, but it's also not a rectangle, allowing you to wander without getting lost.

Here's a look at wine and beer in the first aisle, behind the deli/seafood island.

And the aisle markers are another nice touch, with the names of various local streets labeling each sign.

Roche Brothers uses Food Club and Full Circle items from Topco, which appear to be distributed by Bozzuto's.

Dairy begins on the back wall and then continues down the last aisle part of the way.

The fixtures all look relatively new, but may date back to the 2004 renovation. If so, they've been kept up remarkably well in that time. Maintenance in this store, like most Roche Brothers, is exceptionally good and the stores are immaculate.

Here's frozen foods in the front part of the last aisle. I love the decor over the cases on the left!

And here's a look across the front-end...

We're done with this part of Acton, but not done with Acton entirely. We have one more stop in the southern part of town. But we're going to zigzag through the area a little, first heading east to Concord, then west of there to West Concord, and then back down to the southern part of Acton and into Maynard. Tomorrow, we're off to an independent gourmet market in Concord!